I wait about two more weeks and begin our Christmas preparations starting on St. Nicholas Day (usually around the 6th of December) when we leave our lists for Santa in our shoes by the door. The next morning the lists have been picked up by jolly old St. Nick and in exchange he leaves goodies in our shoes.
THEN it feels like Christmas time! Just last week we bought our tree, decorated the house, cranked up the tunes and...read our first Christmas book.
Before heading to bed, I read Little M Santa's Secret Deal - Who else signed it and where you can find proof of the deal in your room right now; a new book by father and Emmy award winning TV reporter from Maryland Joel D. Smith. Despite not reading every word to my little guy (book is for 5-7 year olds) I improvised and told the story based on the illustrations. They clearly had him hooked because he was full of questions, "why did the girl elf want to take all the toys?!"
See, it's about a jealous elf who makes toys for others, but sees how kids actually treat her creations. She then decides to knock the jingle out of Christmas forever and...take the toys back! But there is a twist - this little elf is Santa's hand-picked successor and his very own kid sister.
Very. Bad. News.
AnTas (short for Anastasia TasMerelda Claus) accompanies Santa to every home in the world. But it's not just toys she is after. Nope. Christmas lights, chocolate goodies and even rhymes themselves are taken away from the children.
Until one night a 7 year old boy catches her taking all his toys and he says "I'm sorry. I know I should clean up my toys, but sometimes I forget..."
As we turned the pages, my little man's eyes just got wider and wider. A bit scared and somewhat reluctant to see what was to come, but he got the message loud and clear, if we take care of our toys and clean up, AnTas won't take them away. Before turning off the lights, he quickly tidied up his toys and books he had on the floor. The next morning he did a quick inventory of his stuff and happily exclaimed "mami, my toys are still here!"
Personally, I'm loving this book. The traditional "be good otherwise Santa won't come" song and dance doesn't work anymore with kids and AnTas the elf has certainly struck a chord with my soon to be four year old. The book is brilliantly written and adding another character to the traditional Santa story injects an additional element of excitement and mystery to the Christmas season.
It gets two hands up from Little M and a high five from this very busy mamá.
Thanks Joel!
Find Santa's Secret Deal on Facebook, Tweet @JoelDee and buy the book ($14.25) with part of the proceeds benefiting Toys for Tots.
And if you are a DC Area local, keep your eyes peeled for Joel on Fox 5 this week!
*I was kindly sent this book by Joel D. Smith for review. No other compensation given.*